Top 3 Games in your life

[Amaury_games]

The games that made my childhood:

1 - Super Mario Brothers 3
2 - Super Castlevania 4
3 - Super Bomberman 4 (although I like 3 so much!)

Yes, I had an SNES and I'm very biased, but I can't help it. They're so much fun! Also, I didn't grow up with Zelda, so it doesn't make my list.

 

[deckai]

That's a hard one..

1: Terranigma (SNES), this game is as perfect as it can get, at least for me. I sill play it at least once a year, for 14 years now. And there is nothing under the sun that will change this.

From here I have around a dozen titles that are close together. But if I had to choose it would be...

2: Medieval II: Total War (PC), You don't want to know how much time I sinked into this game.

3: Call of Duty 2/ half-life 2 (PC), Call of duty had the tighter atmosphere, but Half-life the better experience.

But again, there are just too many nominees, even a top 10 would be hard.

 

[Danoloto]

Wow, evil person, making me narrow it down to just 3.
I read all previous posts for good measure. I have to say, Escapist, you've got good taste.
I do see a lot of honourable mentions, so I'll start with ones that didn't make the cut:

World of Warcraft: for sheer play-time, it has to be a nominee. So much to do, so much to see.
Simcity 4: I can achieve amazing states of bliss while playing games like this. I've spent hours building stuff, just to put it on pause, zoom out, and enjoy.
Rollercoaster Tycoon (1): See simcity
Telltale's Sam & Max series: No other game series has managed more laughs per minute for me than this. It almost made the top 3, if it wasn't for the next titles:

Top 3:

3: Ratchet & Clank series: I can't pick a favourite, the entire series is just guns guns guns. And I love that.

2: Mass Effect 2: The link from ME1 to ME2, using the savegame to deepen gameplay is marvellous, the story is wonderful. And the best part? It's not over yet.

1: Transport Tycoon Deluxe! No game has sucked away more time, and I still suck at it. But the enjoyment of the ka-ching when a train enters the station, I will treasure forever.

-edit- Oops, forgot to honourable-mention Psychonauts

 

[PurpleLeafRave]

1)Oblivion - just...epic. Especially the Dark Brotherhood and Shivering Isles. Cheese for everyone!

2)Dragon Age: Origins - I loved the characters, diolouge, story and choices. Amazing game. And I'm a sucker for fantasy.

3)Halo Reach - the best game of my favourite shooter series. Single player on legendary is a blast and actually doable on your own this time, and the multiplayer is a riot with friends.

 

[KLJT]

1. Oblivion
Put over a THOUSAND hours into that game and still have missions not finished.
2. AC2
A huge game with great gameplay and one of the best plot ever in a game, how it fits perfectly with real history is amazing.
3. Hogs of War
Just so much fun; best turned based combat game of all time

 

[Skoldpadda]

Baldur's Gate 2: The ultimate RPG. It strikes the perfect balance between combat (focused on in Icewind Dale) en story (more prominent in Planescape: Torment). All the Infinity Engine games are absolutely brilliant, and I often come back to each and every one of them. But Baldur's Gate 2 is simply the best of the lot.

Neverwinter Nights: That toolset was a geek's dream come true. Massive community back in the day, and I often fire the game up again to give yet another class a whirl. The main campaign is disappointing, but the expansions made up for that, especially Hordes of the Underdark. I've sunk more hours into this game then any other, I think.

No One Lives Forever: Quite simply the most fun FPS ever. Colourful, cheeky, and exciting. FPSs often have zero replayability in them, and this one is no different, but for some reason I play through this again every so often.

 

[Fusioncode9]

1. Mass Effect
2. Fallout 3
3. COD4
This list changes a lot so I don't take it very seriously.

 

[Inuprince]

1. Legacy of Kain : Soul Reaver - My first 3D game after getting my first PC that could run something more than MS-DOS. Raziel is my favourite game character of all time, and I think the first game involving him was the best Nosgoth was an open world environment, finding all hidden glyphs, and secrets the game had to offer, next to a fantastic storyline, soundtrack, and characters, it's still an amazing experience today, as it was the day I got it

2. Mafia - Also one of my first games, fantastic story, setting, characters, extras. Played it about 20 times, and got all cars in Freeride Extreme.

3. Prince of Persia : Warrior Within - I'm glad to see, it has appeared on other people's lists too, because I think it's the best in the series. I loved how much it evolved after SoT, and although the game took a darker turn, I loved the new style, combos, the music everything! - this is the game I played most times of all. I think I beat it about 35 times

 

[DaHero]

1: Deus Ex
2: Lord of the Rings Online
3: Two Worlds (don't ask me why, I just have a soft spot for it, I know it's not Oblivion but Oblivion didn't really stick with me =/)

 

[esperandote]

Silent Hill 2. Awesome story writing and overall design.
King of fighters 2002. Near infinite strategy learning and replay value.
Parasite Eve 2. Design, gameplay, strategy.

 

[Sajuuk-khar]

I find it a bit hard to pick just three games and put them into order, but I'll pick these I guess:

1. Chrono Trigger
Simple, fun, awesome soundtrack, excellent looks for a 2D game. The story is nothing complex, but really fun. The game doesn't really do anything wrong anywhere.

2. Super Smash Brothers Melee
Rarely, very rarely my mates and I decide to turn on this game... and everytime we still have a blast. Lots of characters, lots of levels and great fun. Not playing it no-items and final destination blabla.

3. Mass Effect
First time I played it, I thought it was 'just ok'. Since then it has grown on me. Just love the setting, the characters and the possibilities in the dialogue.

Honourable mentions: Jagged Alliance 2, Age of Empires II, Heroes of Might & Magic III, Jazz Jackrabbit 2 and Final Fantasy VI.

 

[Telris]

1. Halo CE - The first FPS I liked and it's still fun to play alone or with friends.
2. Fable - The reason I bought an Xbox and the best of the series IMO.
3. Mass Effect 1/2 - I can't pick which one is my favourite, they are both great RPGs.

 

[Shade184]

3: Jedi Knights 3: Jedi Academy. That was the game that got me into gaming in the first place. Still love it.

2: Fable - The Lost Chapters. That was the game that got me into RPGs, and since I didn't get caught up in the media hype surrounding it, I was not nearly as disappointed as many others were.

And, number 1: Morrowind. I bought it off the cheap rack at EB on an impulse, and I swear it changed my life forever.

Honourable mention goes to the first Mass Effect, for showing me what action/RPGs are truly capable of.

I still play all these games.

 

[ranyilliams]

1. Ocarina of time
2. Oblivion
3. Fallout 3

if you cant tell...i likes myself some RPG.

 

[WaffleGod]

1) SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals II: Man, I wasted soooooooo many hours of my life playing this game. Here's to hoping SOCOM: Special Forces won't be crap like Confrontation.

2) Jak II: I really liked Jak&Daxter when it first came out, and I immediately loved the new setting and story in Jak II. Easily my favorite Platformer ever.

3)Company of Heroes: In my opinion, one of the best RTS games ever made. The gameplay was fun, easy to get into, harder to master. It's probably my favorite RTS.

 

[Ben Legend]

Right... difficult one.

Final Fantasy 9. Epic game, got me into RPG's and Final Fantasy in general.

Resident Evil 2, simply amazing game. I could replay it a thousand times over and not get bored.

hmmm... gets difficult now.

I'm going to have to go with games i've put the most hours into:

Rock Band or Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2.

I'll go with Rock Band.

So:

1 - Final Fantasy 9
2 - Resident Evil 2
3 - Rock Band

Sorted.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

Deus Ex: the only scifi game that after 10 years you still reinstall, Multiple choices to approach a mission and characters, that even affects later parts of the game, several endings, i've never seen so much dedication in a game apart from few rpg's like in Kotor1&2, Gothic 3, The Witcher 2 (same multiple choice system and 16 endings) just to name some.

Baldur's Gate 1&2: beast/best RPG ever. Unmatched Unrivaled. between Intelligent & many times funny scriptwriting, interesting Non Playable Characters, a soundtrack of Epic proportions, an absorbing huge world where you only taste some parts throughout the games (Dungeons&Dragons Faerun map is a big cartography work...) (TeamBG reopened! i've made a post about it a few days ago... so mods and modding tools are back for the Infinity Engine !).

Psychonauts: one of those games, where you just don't care how much childish it can look, and how easy it is for it to make you understand psychological thematics throughout the levels of this game.


Honorable mention of Omikron the nomad Soul, Fahrenheit: the Indigo Prophecy, Fallout 2, Mafia, starwars Republic commando + Battlefront 2 (WE WANT Battlefront III !!!)

 

[gorfias]

I'll stick to this console gen for focus (how would I compare Ultima 4 for the Commodore 64 to today's games? Is if fair) so....
1) Uncharted 2. Amazing in every way. Great to look at, fun story, terrific characters and fun and intuitive gameplay.
2) Halo 3 (ducks flames). Really. It came out early this gen and looked great for when it came out. It nicely brought us full circle in narrative. Major dig: there was a boss fight missing. There was this giant talking space octopus from Halo 2 I really wanted to duke it out with. But the whole music theme, graphics, gameplay thing was just a hoot
3) Call of Duty 5: World At War. Zombies. Download maps for zombies. Life is good.

EDIT: OK, all time;

Ultima 4: Commodore 64
Legend of Zelda 2: NES
Final Fantasy X: PS2

 

[mxfox408]

I love these games and still do.
Super Metriod
Chrono Trigger
Mass Effect Series

 

[HassEsser]

1. Half-Life series
2. Uncharted 2
3. Counter-Strike